NATO has disclosed that it is assessing the details of the United States’s decision to withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany, a key partner in the Western security alliance, amid tensions over the war on Iran.
In a statement on Saturday, NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart said that the bloc is “working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany,” a process the US Pentagon estimates will unfold over the next six to 12 months.
The planned drawdown comes as US President Donald Trump announced a decision to withdraw troops from Germany and feuds with European allies for not doing more to assist in the US-Israel war against Iran.
He has voiced particular ire at Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who recently said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership.Trump responded by urging Merz to stop “interfering” over Iran and spend more time “fixing his broken country.” The US President has also called NATO a “paper tiger” and “absolutely useless.”
Trump on Thursday said that Merz should spend more time trying to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and less time “interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place.”
The United States military said that it will pull about 5,000 troops out of Germany amid ongoing tensions with the key European ally concerning the US war against Iran.
The Pentagon announced the decision on Friday, days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Iran was humiliating the US during the negotiations aimed at ending the war.
Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, “We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months.”
“This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”
Sean Parnell
Reacting to the US announcement, German Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius said that Germany had anticipated a US drawdown and that Europeans must take greater responsibility for their own security. “Germany is on the right track” in this regard, Pistorius said, pointing to the expansion of its armed forces, the greater and faster procurement of equipment and the construction of infrastructure.
Hart, the NATO Spokesperson echoed that view, saying that the US decision “underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security.”
“We remain confident in our ability to provide for our deterrence and defence as this shift towards a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO continues.”
Allison Hart
During last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, members agreed to boost defence spending to up to 5 percent of their budgets, more than doubling the previous 2 percent target.
Shifting US Military Priorities
Former US diplomat Donald Jensen said that the US’s announced troop withdrawal reflects shifting US military priorities and could signal a longer-term reconfiguration of Europe’s security framework.
Speaking to a news agency, Jensen said, “The reduction or repositioning, whatever you want to call it, suggests a changing US strategic set of objectives,” adding that more American troops could now be sent closer to China, which Washington views as a greater threat than Russia.
Jensen said that the US military shift is likely to cause a “permanent change in that security architecture [of Europe], the final form of which we don’t know yet.” “But certainly, it portends a more transactional view by Washington of our European partners,” he said.
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